Syrian Army Retakes Key Post in Regime Bastion Latakia

Pro-regime soldiers are seen aiming at rebel locations in the village of Kasab, in the northwestern province of Latakia, on March 27, 2014. Syrian government forces intensified their shelling of positions seized by rebels in the coastal province of Latakia, focusing on the Kasab border crossing into Turkey, an army officer said. (Photo credit AFP/Getty Images)

DAMASCUS, March 31, 2014 (AFP) -

Syrian army troops recaptured on Monday a key position in coastal Latakia province, a regime bastion, state television said, as rebels press a campaign in the region.

"Syrian army units have full control of Observatory 45 in the north of Latakia province and are continuing to pursue terrorist groups," the state broadcaster said, citing the military.

Observatory 45 is a strategic hilltop that overlooks several areas inhabited by residents from the Alawite community, the religious sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

Sate television reported live from near the hilltop and broadcast pictures of dead bodies it said were "terrorists," many of them non-Syrians.

Last week the rebels seized the hill as part of an offensive launched March 21 in Latakia province, which had been relatively untouched by the widespread violence elsewhere in the country.

Rebel forces, including jihadists from the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, have also captured the Armenian town of Kasab and the nearby Kasab border crossing with Turkey, as well as the village of Samra, giving them access to the Mediterranean for the first time.

More than 300 dead on both sides have been killed since the rebels launched their offensive, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

"The army has managed to install multiple rocket-launchers on Observatory 45, but fighting in continuing in the vicinity of the hillside," the group said.

After a series of rebel losses in Damascus province, the opposition has shifted its focus to Latakia, where the army and pro-regime militias have rallied to defend the area.

On Monday, opposition forces fired Grad rockets at the Bassel al-Assad airport for the first time.

The civilian facility is named for a deceased brother of the president and is near the town of Qardaha, the Assad clan's ancestral home.

Assad's father Hafez al-Assad, who preceded as president, is buried in Qardaha.